The present embodiments relate to a magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) local coil for an MRT system.
MRT devices for examining objects or patients using magnetic resonance tomography (MRT, MRI) are known, for example, from DE10314215B4.
In MRT, images with a high signal-to-noise ratio may be recorded using local coils or loops. In this process, the excited nuclei induce a voltage in the local coil. The induced voltage is amplified using a low-noise preamplifier (LNA) and forwarded to the electronic receive system by cable at MR frequency. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio, even with high-resolution images, high field systems (e.g., having a basic field strength of 3 Tesla or more) are used. If more coil elements or loops are to be connected to the MR receive system than there are receivers present, a switching matrix (e.g., RCCS) is introduced between receive antennas and receivers. This routes the currently active receive channels to the receivers present. This allows more coil elements to be connected than there are receivers present. For whole body coverage, only the coils located in the field of view (FoV) or in a homogeneity volume of the magnet may be read out. The individual antenna elements are also referred to as coil elements in the following. A “coil” may include one of more coil elements (e.g., an array coil). The local coil includes coil elements, a preamplifier, further electronic units (e.g., down converter or digitization) and cabling, and a housing and may include a cable with plug (or a radio connection) to connect the local coil to the system.